


Embers

by Crossbowdixon



Category: The 100 (TV), The 100 Series - Kass Morgan
Genre: Bellamy Blake - Freeform, Clarke, Clarke Griffin - Freeform, F/M, Grounder Clarke Griffin, Nightbloods, The 100 - Freeform, bellamy - Freeform, grounders, season 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-25
Updated: 2017-05-25
Packaged: 2018-11-04 23:00:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11000799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crossbowdixon/pseuds/Crossbowdixon
Summary: Its been five years since Clarke has seen Bellamy, she spends her time telling the surviving Nightbloods about the legendary Bellamy Blake.





	Embers

**Author's Note:**

> yo so this is really rushed and likely full of bad spelling and grammar read at ur own risk  
> -@targarven on twitter

By the time Madi started to make her way back to camp the sun had almost set. 

She looked up at the purple and pink streaks that painted themselves across the sky as she walked beneath the trees. It was summer time- or at least the closest thing to summer they could get. Since Praimfaya the weather had been all sorts of unpredictable, not that Madi could remember much from before then. 

The young grounder had only seen fragments of her life that once was. When the death wave took her parents she was four years old, a child kept in secret away from the brutality of her clan. Clarke had explained the best she could: filling in the blanks and providing her with limited knowledge of the culture she had been brought up in. The last thing she could remember from before was a flash of orange then, pain. Her parents perished within minuets and Madi was left alone to watch as her world turned to dust. 

"Hey." A familiar voice tore Madi from her thoughts as she exited the trees into a clearing. "You're late." 

"Sorry." The girl threw her pack down into the ground and sat herself on one of the fallen trees they had fashioned into a seats. "I got lost.” It was an understatement but she didn't want to announce to the whole group that a field of butterflies had distracted her from todays lesson.

The other Nightbloods laughed at this. Madi was known for being curious. She spent the morning reading with the younger ones todays charter was a book on greek mythology, every day they were given a different lesson or assignment. Today the children had been given till sunset to come up with a short story that they would read out tomorrow. Clarke had allowed them to venture anywhere they wished in the little patch of green they called home. But instead of completing the task Madi ventured too far once again. 

"It's okay." Clarke smiled and held out a hand beckoning the child to sit closer, her cropped blonde hair was tied back into an arrangement of braids that framed her face. "We were just about to start." 

Five Nightbloods in total surrounded Clarke. Each of them sat huddled together around the blazing fire patiently awaiting tonight's story. 

"First of all, did we have any progress on the bunker today." Clarke switched from Trigedasleng to English, she often did this for story time. Although only three out of five were fluent in the common tongue it was still important for the others to learn. 

"No movement or response." Alina's accent was thick, at eighteen she was the oldest of the children and had struggled the most with learning the new language. "Rowan managed to clear more of the path." 

Rowan, the lanky boy with choppy brown hair and scars covering his cheeks nodded. He wasn't much of a talker but being born into Trikru he had grown up strong. 

"Well done." Clarke applauded and the children followed, she always showed them that even the smallest of victories mattered. "Ira, Niko, tomorrow I want you two to go hunting, we have enough food to last us another week but this weather wont last.” The twins grinned in unison. 

Niko held up his spear proudly, he seemed to be good with weapons, Clarke had even allowed him to use her gun from time to time. After two years animals started appearing again, after four they had been safe enough to eat. 

"Now, what story would you like to hear tonight?" Clarke's eyes glistened under the moonlight, she propped herself up at the head of the circle and pulled her journal from a bag. The leather was thick and worn, jammed with drawings and stories, some she had shared with the children and some she had not. 

"I know! I know!" Niko shot up a hand, his brother groaned already anticipating what he was going to say. "Tell the one about the Mountain." 

“Ste yujn.” Ira muttered. Shut up.

Clarke shot the boys a warning stare, her lips drawing into a thin smile. It was beyond her how a boy from Floukru had become so obsessed with the men of the Mountain. Niko must have herd of the legend of Wanheda from his parents. He had even taken to reenacting Clarke and Anya’s escape in his free time…with the help of his reluctant brother. 

"How about I tell something else tonight?" 

"What about when Wells killed the panther? Oh! Or when Raven stole a rocket." Alina asked, as she handed out dinner to her brothers and sisters buzzing with excitement.

Once a fortnight the group gathered like this, they had quickly become a small family of sorts brought together by fate and luck alone. Six Nightbloods were all that was left of an entire nation. The children had become obsessed with knowledge thanks to Clarke, even though Alina and Rowan were old enough to remember most of their old lives the tale of the teenagers who fell from the sky had become everyones favourite bed time story. The 100 had become legends. For six years the Nightbloods had waited for the rocket of fall, so they could meet the heroes of Clarke’s stories for themselves. Every night the looked to the sky, hoping, praying to catch a glimpse of the people she had told them so much about.

It didn't take long for the five to burst into noise. They giggled and argued over what adventure was the best whilst shouting out suggestions for what story Clarke should tell them next. Madi sat in silence, her hand held high above her head waiting to be picked. 

Clarke noticed her in an instant and pressed a finger against her lips signalling for the children to hush, within a few seconds silence dawned on the campfire once again. "Madi, you may speak freely." 

The young grounder bit her lip and fiddled with a loose strand on her shirt, she had never been very confident in the group what with being the youngest and spending most of her time off chasing butterfly's or staying close to Clarke's side. 

"What about Bellamy." She wondered, the other children gasped. Clarke had told them every detail about him over and over again, surely their couldn't be a single thing about him she had yet to tell.

Clarke smiled, a smile that Bellamy would have started wars for.

Madi had only seen her mentor cry twice in the six years, once was on her mothers birthday when another attempt at opening the bunker had failed. The second was when the fifth year passed, Clarke had sat in her room alone that night and skipped dinner. Madi didn't mean to disturb her, she only wanted to know if Clarke wanted some food before they finished. She had found her sitting in the middle of the floor surrounded by bits of torn up paper. One of the drawings was of a boy, upon first glance Madi mistook him for a God. He was the most beautiful person she had ever seen, but Clarke sat crying over the drawing- her tears falling onto the page as the ink washed his face away. 

“Good suggestion." She clutched her journal against her chest like she often did when trying to find inspiration. "Hm let me see, I've told you about when he saved me from the pit of spikes. The time we took a day trip and got attacked…” She seemed to be counting off her favourite memories with him. "What about when King Roan took me captive?" 

Her audience nodded in agreement but Madi cringed, although the story was one of her favourites hearing about ice nation always made her flinch. If they were alive today she would have surely been hunted for her affliction. 

"I thought Bellamy was the King?" Ira asked, pulling a blanket over his brothers lap. As night grew darker even the flames couldn't keep the cold at bay.

"No." Clarke shook her head stifling a laugh. “Although I think he would love to hear you call him that.”

"But he called you his princess." Rowan whispered, the young boys voice was barley loud enough to hear. He rarely gave any input in these conversations at all but always listened to every single word that Clarke said. 

There was something different about the atmosphere when Clarke told a story about Bellamy. It always felt like she was the only person in the room. Every time she spoke of him her face lit up and the stern mentor who had practically raised five children on her own was gone, in her place was replaced with an eighteen year old girl.

"Yes, he did." She smiled to herself at the memory of that nickname and what she would give to hear him say it just one more time. 

“What was he like?” Made spoke again shuffling closer to Clarke so that she was now leaning her head on her shoulder. 

“He was brave and selfless, kind, arrogant at times much like some of you.” The kids pointed to one another and laughed. “He saved my life more times than I can recall and risked his for people he hardly knew.” She took a deep breath willing the tears away. “He would do anything to protect his sister and the ones he loved.”

“Did you love him?” Alina asked, ever curious.

Clarke went quiet, her eyes fell to the ground as a sleepy Madi rested her head on her lap. “I-“ She began then stopped herself. “One time I was on a mission for my people, the jeep was hijacked by some rogue grounders…”

Clarke trailed off immersing herself into the story completely. She recalled that day so clearly but had always locked it away deep within her mind. It was strange how a single moment could change everything, like how if the power didn't fail she would have been in that rocket ship with Bellamy leaving the Nightbloods to fend for themselves. He was going to tell her something that day and she had stopped him.

Madi let out a yawn, her eyes growing heavy, her weary body threatening to shut down at any moment. Clarke had long finished her story and the other Nightbloods had already made their way to bed but she had stayed to watch Clarke sketch in her journal by the fire. 

"Come on little one." Clarke ran a finger across Madi's cheek gently waking her up. "Time for bed." She put her arms under the child's torso and pulled the girls small frame into her arms. 

Madi let out a groan of disagreement but allowed herself to be picked up anyway. She opened her eyes fully and fixed her gaze on Clarke as the trees moved past above them. "Clarke?" She asked softly her tiredness clear in the tone of her voice. 

"Yeah?" She responded looking down at the girl she had raised. 

“Do you draw them because you think you might forget their faces?” The child asked, Clarke knew exactly who’s face she was referring to.

“Yes and no.” She answered honestly. “I don’t think I could ever forget.” 

It had been 2,198 days and she still remembered the constellation of his freckles perfectly. 

"When you go to contact the ARK in the morning can I come?" Her request was too pure to turn down and it was no secret that every day Clarke woke earlier than the rest of them in hopes of making contact. She always returned disappointed. 

"Of course you can." Clarke responded, pulling the child closer to her chest. 

They would be home soon.


End file.
